KANSAS CITY – In the course of a 162-game season, how many games go exactly according to plan? Five? Ten? Considering all the ways a game can go wrong, it’s certainly not much more than that.
For a while Thursday, the Toronto Blue Jays appeared to be cruising toward one of those coveted drama-free wins. On a cool day at Kauffman Stadium, just about everything was going according to plan. Their starter, Kevin Gausman, pitched like an ace, their best hitter led a balanced offensive attack and their top relievers seemed poised to enjoy some hard-earned rest.
Then came the eighth inning when Trevor Richards allowed a homer, a walk and a single. His replacement, Tim Mayza, allowed a single and a double, allowing two more to score. By the time Yimi Garcia had finally escaped the inning, the Blue Jays’ lead was down to 6-3.
With their lead down to three, the Blue Jays faced a decision: ask Erik Swanson or closer Jordan Romano to pitch for a third consecutive day, or trust in someone else to close out the win? With 155 games remaining on the schedule, they opted for the latter, turning to ball over to Adam Cimber, who closed the game out without any issues.
With that, the Blue Jays beat the Royals 6-3 to take the four-game series three games to one and improve to 4-3 on the season before boarding a charter flight to Anaheim for a weekend series against the Angels. Easy, right?
The efforts of Gausman were front and centre in this one, as the right-hander battled through diminished velocity to pitch into the seventh inning without allowing a run. Though Gausman topped out at 94.9 m.p.h., his four-seam fastball averaged 91.3 m.p.h. His splitter was breaking hard, though, and he threw that pitch 40 times – once more than his fastball.
All told, Gausman pitched six-plus innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out seven. It’s the kind of performance the Blue Jays have gotten used to over the last season or so, but that doesn’t make it any less significant.
Offensively, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. remains locked in at the plate. One day after hitting his first home run of the 2023 season, Guerrero Jr. connected for three more hits, including a 436-foot home run to left-centre field. Between the hard contact and his disciplined plate approach, Guerrero Jr.’s an extremely tough out right now.
He also has plenty of support behind him, as Daulton Varsho put together another two-hit game hitting behind Guerrero Jr. while Thursday’s cleanup hitter, Matt Chapman, drove in two.
Even further down the lineup, the Blue Jays got meaningful contributions as Cavan Biggio hit his first home run of the season and Kevin Kiermaier showed off his speed by converting a bleeder up the middle into a hustle double in the second inning.
It added up to a strong offensive effort for the Blue Jays before they head West for three games against the Angels (they’ll miss Shohei Ohtani, facing left-handers Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson and Reid Detmers instead).
Combined with Gausman’s efforts, there were plenty of positives, and even if the bullpen made things interesting in the end, the improved depth of the Toronto relief corps means they can still get by on days Romano needs a rest.
